Filming began in London on October 24, 2014. A Christmas break started in November with filming resuming in February 2015. The film was released by Focus Features under their recently revived Gramercy Pictures label on March 4, 2016, and grossed $205 million worldwide. However, the critical reception was generally negative, with Variety accusing it of fear-mongering and "terrorsploitation" while The A.V. Club named it worst film of the year.

A third film, titled Angel Has Fallen, is in development and has started filming in 2018.

Contents

Western intelligence services of the G8 track down Pakistani arms dealer Aamir Barkawi (Alon Moni Aboutboul) as the mastermind behind several terrorist attacks, and authorize an American drone strike on Barkawi's compound, apparently killing Barkawi and his family.

Two years later, UK Prime Minister James Wilson suddenly dies, and arrangements are made for the Western world leaders to attend his funeral in London. Secret Service Director Lynne Jacobs (Angela Bassett) assigns agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), a close friend of U.S. President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart), to lead Asher's security detail while overseas, even though Banning's wife Leah (Radha Mitchell) is due to give birth to their child in a few weeks. The entourage arrives via Air Force One at Stansted Airport, and Banning pushes their arrival at Somerset House in London via Marine One to earlier. As Asher's Presidential State Car arrives at St Paul's Cathedral, a series of coordinated attacks by terrorists disguised as Metropolitan Police, the Queen's Guardsmen, and other first responders erupts, killing the other Western leaders, damaging or destroying major landmarks and generating mass panic. Asher's early arrival has thrown the attack on him at St. Paul's off-guard, and Banning is able to rescue Asher and Jacobs and rushes them back to Marine One. As the helicopter and its escorts takes off, terrorists fire Stinger missiles at them, destroying the escorts and forcing the damaged helicopter to crash-land in Hyde Park. Banning and Asher suffer only minor wounds, but Jacobs is fatally injured, and she makes Banning promise to stay alive for his unborn child and get back at whoever did this. Banning quickly escorts Asher into the London Underground as the city's power is lost and people take shelter in their homes.

In Washington, D.C., U.S. Vice President Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) works with the British authorities to investigate the incident while trying to track down the President. Trumbull receives a call from Barkawi, still alive after all and operating out of Yemen. The man takes responsibility for the attacks, coordinated by his son Kamran (Waleed Zuaiter). Barkawi purposely had Wilson poisoned to lure the Western leaders to London to attack them. Barkawi knows Asher is still alive, and promises that if Kamran captures him, he will broadcast the execution of the President on the Internet. Trumbull orders his intelligence staff to locate Barkawi's known operatives to find any connection to the attack, while British authorities have all first responders stand down, so that any left in the open can be identified as terrorists.

After leaving a sign to be picked up by satellite tracking, Banning leads Asher to an MI6 safe-house, where Jacqueline "Jax" Marshall (Charlotte Riley) briefs them on what their intelligence has learned. Marshall receives a voice message from Trumbull that confirms they saw Banning's sign and that an extraction team is en route. Security monitors show the approach of a Delta Force team, but Banning suspects they have arrived far too soon and may be more terrorists. He covers and fights off the terrorists before Asher and Banning drive away, but their car is struck by a truck driven by terrorists, allowing them to kidnap Asher. Banning is rescued by the extraction team, a combined Delta Force/S.A.S. squad. They also suspect that there is a mole in the British government.

Trumbull's staff have identified a building in London owned by one of Barkawi's companies, which still appears to be drawing massive amounts of power despite supposedly being under construction and unoccupied, and suspect it is Kamran's headquarters. Banning joins the extraction team to infiltrate the building and stop Kamran before he can kill Asher. Banning and Asher escape just before the building is destroyed by the Delta Force/SAS squad, killing Kamran and the remaining terrorists. Marshall has worked with British authorities to restore London's security system and, discovering that MI5 Intelligence Chief John Lancaster (Patrick Kennedy) aided in Barkawi's attack, she kills him. Meanwhile, Trumbull contacts Barkawi to tell him that his plan failed, and then to look outside, moments before the building is destroyed by another drone strike, killing him.

Two weeks after the attack on London, Banning is home spending time with Leah and their newborn child, named Lynne after his deceased boss. He sits in front of his laptop and contemplates sending his letter of resignation. On TV, Trumbull speaks regarding the recent events, leaving an inspiring message that the U.S. will prevail. This convinces Banning to delete the letter.

Butler, Eckhart, Freeman, Bassett, Leo, Forster and Mitchell reprised their roles from Olympus Has Fallen.[5] Production had been scheduled to begin in May 2015 in London, with Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt returning to write the script. Director Antoine Fuqua, however, did not return, due to his commitments with The Equalizer.[15] On May 1, 2014, it was announced Focus Features had acquired distribution rights to the sequel, and would release the film on October 2, 2015.[16] On August 18, 2014, it was announced that Charlie Countryman director Fredrik Bond would take over direction from Fuqua,[17] but Bond left the film on September 18, six weeks before the shooting was to begin.[18] On September 28, director Babak Najafi signed on to direct the film.[8] On October 10, Jackie Earle Haley joined the film to play Deputy Chief Mason.[10] On November 12, Mehdi Dehbi joined the film to play Sultan Mansoor, the youngest of three brothers whose life has been forever changed after a drone strike.[11]

Principal photography began on October 24, 2014, in London.[7][19] Four weeks of shooting were to take place, involving actors Freeman, Eckhart, Bassett and Melissa Leo, before a break for Christmas. Gerard Butler - who had been filming Geostorm the previous October - joined the shoot later, filming scenes with Eckhart in March 2015.[20] A helicopter was seen making a landing in the courtyard of Somerset House.[21] Butler and Angela Bassett were seen filming in Somerset House.[22] Butler stated in an interview that the movie was also filmed in India and was to continue in Bulgaria.[23] Then President of Bulgaria, Rosen Plevneliev, visited the set of London Has Fallen during filming at Boyana Cinema Center in Bulgaria.[24][25] Filming lasted through April 2015.[8]

The music was composed and conducted by Trevor Morris, who provided the score for the first film.[26] The record was released on March 4, 2016, by Back Lot Music.[27]The score was recorded at Abbey Road Studios with The Chamber Orchestra of London.

On May 20, 2015, Focus Features relaunched their Gramercy Pictures label for action, horror, and science fiction releases, with London Has Fallen being one of Gramercy's first titles.[1] The film was planned for an October 2, 2015, release, however, on June 12, 2015, it was announced that the film had been moved back to January 22, 2016, to avoid competition with The Martian, which swapped its original November 25 release date with Victor Frankenstein.[28][29] On July 1, 2015, the film's teaser trailer was released.[30] The timing of the release was criticized as "insensitive" by the Chair of the Tavistock Square Memorial Trust, Philip Nelson, as it coincided with the week of the 10th anniversary of the 7 July 2005 London bombings, in which 52 people were killed, and with the 2015 Sousse attacks, in which 30 British nationals were killed.[31] On September 16, 2015, the film's release was moved back again to March 4, 2016, because the studios needed more time to finish the film's visual effects.[32] The U.S. trailer was released on November 5, 2015.[33] A new theatrical poster of the film was released on January 21, 2016.[34]

London Has Fallen grossed $62.7 million in North America and $143.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $205.9 million, against a budget of $60 million.[4] The film outgrossed its predecessor's total of $170 million.

In the United States and Canada, pre-release tracking suggested the film would gross $20–23 million from 3,490 theaters in its opening weekend, trailing fellow newcomer Zootopia ($60–70 million projection) but besting Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ($10–12 million projection).[35] The film made $850,000 from its Thursday night previews and $7.6 million on its first day. It went on to gross $21.6 million in its opening weekend, finishing second at the box office behind Zootopia ($75 million).[36]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 25% based on 181 reviews, with an average rating of 3.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "London Has Fallen traps a talented cast – and all who dare to see it – in a mid-1990s basic-cable nightmare of a film loaded with xenophobia, and threadbare action-thriller clichés."[37] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 28 out of 100, based on reviews from 35 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[38] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale,[36] the same score as the first film.[39]

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club wrote: "A murky, brain-dead stab-a-thon packed with so many inane chases, laughable special effects, and mismatched stock footage shots that it begs to be made into a drinking game, London Has Fallen is one of those rare films that is good at absolutely nothing."[40]The A.V. Club later picked it as their worst movie of the year.[41]

Variety described London Has Fallen as "effortlessly racist" invoking "familiar Islamophobia", a "terrorsploitation" fantasy designed to spread fear after the November 2015 Paris attacks, and "ugly, reactionary fear-mongering."[42]
Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter (THR) styled it as "major world capitals destruction porn sub-genre" that feeds a "paranoia".[42]

The film has been called "extremely insensitive" by families of the victims of the 7/7 bombings after an early trailer was released ahead of the 10th anniversary of the attacks.[43]

On October 26, 2016, it was announced that a sequel titled Angel Has Fallen is in development, with Gerard Butler reprising his role, as well as once again acting as a producer on the film.[44]

On July 25, 2017, Ric Roman Waugh was announced as director for Angel Has Fallen.[45] On January 10, 2018, Holt McCallany joined the cast as Wade Jennings, an ex-military turned head of a technology company.[46] On January 18, 2018, Jada Pinkett Smith and Tim Blake Nelson are confirmed to appear in Angel Has Fallen and the filming of it is set to start on February 7, 2018.[47] On February 13, 2018, Piper Perabo joined the cast.[48]Angel Has Fallen has started filming in Virginia Water Lake.[49]